diff --git a/include/libssh/priv.h b/include/libssh/priv.h
index 1e21d92b..57ab902f 100644
--- a/include/libssh/priv.h
+++ b/include/libssh/priv.h
@@ -369,6 +369,17 @@ int ssh_connector_remove_event(ssh_connector connector);
 void explicit_bzero(void *s, size_t n);
 #endif /* !HAVE_EXPLICIT_BZERO */
 
+void burn_free(void *ptr, size_t len);
+
+/** Free memory space after zeroing it */
+#define BURN_FREE(x, len)          \
+    do {                           \
+        if ((x) != NULL) {         \
+            burn_free((x), (len)); \
+            (x) = NULL;            \
+        }                          \
+    } while (0)
+
 /**
  * This is a hack to fix warnings. The idea is to use this everywhere that we
  * get the "discarding const" warning by the compiler. That doesn't actually
diff --git a/src/misc.c b/src/misc.c
index 9e8c381f..c2bb5484 100644
--- a/src/misc.c
+++ b/src/misc.c
@@ -1619,6 +1619,27 @@ void explicit_bzero(void *s, size_t n)
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_EXPLICIT_BZERO */
 
+/**
+ * @brief Securely free memory by overwriting it before deallocation
+ *
+ * Overwrites the memory region with zeros before calling free() to prevent
+ * sensitive data from remaining in memory after deallocation.
+ *
+ * @param[in] ptr Pointer to the memory region to securely free.
+ *                Can be NULL (no operation performed).
+ * @param[in] len Length of the memory region in bytes.
+ *
+ */
+void burn_free(void *ptr, size_t len)
+{
+    if (ptr == NULL || len == 0) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    explicit_bzero(ptr, len);
+    free(ptr);
+}
+
 #if !defined(HAVE_STRNDUP)
 char *strndup(const char *s, size_t n)
 {